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Quest Means Business
Jobs Report Examined; Insults and Attacks Dominate Republican Debate; Knife Reportedly Found at Former O.J. Simpson Estate; Brazilian Police Question Former President Lula; Turkish Government Seizes Popular Newspaper; Ben Carson to Speak on Campaign Future; Romney: I Couldn't Wait Any Longer on Trump; Trump Pulls Out of Conservative Conference; Republicans Deeply Dived by Trump Candidacy; WPP CEO Says Advertising Industry Optimism Misplaced; Saudi Arabia Looks to Diversify Economy; U.S. Stocks Gain on Strong Jobs Report. Aired 4-5p ET
Aired March 04, 2016 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[16:00:00]
RICHARD QUEST, HOST: The recipient of the medal of honor ringing the closing bell on this Friday. That's his family also on the dais with him.
The bell has been rung by the little one. Go on. Ah, I think that's what you call a military gavel. Bringing close to Friday, the 4th of March.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Tonight, don't believe the doom's day crowd. President Obama says the jobs numbers make America great already.
The police in Brazil detain the former President and that sparks riots and chaos in the streets.
And presenting Mr. And Mrs. Murdoch. The News Corp. boss and his new model wife.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: I'm Richard Quest. I mean business.
Good evening. We will have all the business news in just a moment. But we want to begin with one of the most famous unresolved cases which has taken
a remarkable and extraordinary twist.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: The police in Los Angeles say they are examining what's been described as a knife said to have been found at the estate once owned by
O.J. Simpson. Now, Simpson is the former star of the American Football who was acquitted of killing his wife - his ex-wife and her friend back in
1994. The weapon used in the stabbing has never been found and, to that extend, the case remains open. The item just discovered was said to be in
the possession of a retired police officer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDREW NORMAN, CAPTAIN LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT: I was really surprised. I would think that an LAPD Officer, if this story is accurate,
as we're being told, would know that any time you are -- you come into contact with evidence, that you should and shall submit that to
investigators. So I don't know what the circumstances are, why that didn't happen, or if that's entirely accurate, or if this whole story is possibly
bogus from the get-go.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: CNN's legal analyst is Paul Callan, he joins me now. Paul represented the estate of one of the victims, of Nicole Brown Smith-Simpson
in the civil suit against O.J. What do you make of this?
PAUL CALLAN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: It's really shocking that this would come to light now. Because there's a T.V series going on in America right now
which is, you know, replaying the entire case and all of a sudden 22 years later, the murder weapon, the missing murder weapon, is allegedly
discovered.
QUEST: Right. We don't know any of the facts about how -- I mean, we know it was found at the home which is being demolished, we don't know where, we
don't know by whom, and we don't know when.
CALLAN: Well, the police have said that there was a reconstruction of the Rockingham Estate which was the home of O.J. Simpson at the time
approximately four years after the murder.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CALLAN: And during that reconstruction project, a construction worker allegedly finds this six-inch knife --
QUEST: Four years ago?
CALLAN: Four years. But that's back in 1998, '96, in that range, it's 22 years ago, total, it's turned over to a cop, and he keeps it as a souvenir
apparently instead of immediately turning it in for testing. So I kind of have my doubts about the viability of this particular knife as a piece of
usable evidence in any kind of criminal proceeding.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: I mean, it's -- it's almost -- a police officer being handed a knife in one of the world's most famous cases, is not going to put it in his
trunk upstairs thinking it's a nice memento, it just doesn't ring true.
CALLAN: Well, it doesn't. But on the other hand, the original O.J. case, he got off because there was a belief that the cops were incompetent idiots
and they hadn't collected the evidence properly. And - but you've got to picture what did he do? He framed the O.J. knife and put it up in the den
of his house this cop? It would be a - what would he have done with it 20 years?
QUEST: If this knife, let's go into the realms of law here. If this knife proves to be the knife, humor me, if you will, Paul, if this knife proves
to be the murder weapon, is he stopped from being tried again by the principal of double jeopardy? He's already been acquitted.
CALLAN: Probably 99% chance he cannot be re-tried because of double jeopardy. I'll give you one sort of ray of hope for those who would like to
see him retried.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CALLAN: The Federal Government could start some kind of a Federal prosecution for the denial of the life of Nicole Brown Simpson, if they had
-- new evidence and they could bring a case.
QUEST: Two bites of the same cherry.
[16:05:05]
CALLAN: Well that's right, this happened before the Rodney King case in California. It is an example, it's very unusual and you know something,
they're not going to do it because this piece of evidence, if it exists, what are the chances that there's DNA on it that could be traceable? It
would have to - you'd have to have O.Js, Nicole's, and you'd have to Ron Goldman, who was the second victim. Because he would come in and say well
of course my DNA will be on a knife from my kitchen as would Nicole's because she used to visit to pick up the kids. So you've got to have the
other victim, Ron Goldman's DNA. What are the chances, 22 years later, zero, I say, are the chances that DNA will be found.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: You tried the civil case. You know this case absolutely inside out, backwards and upside down. Put your law books to one side and give me your
gut feeling of what you thought when you heard this today.
CALLAN: Well, you know I was always -- I'm always hopeful for any piece of evidence that will affirmatively convince people that he was guilty.
Because I will tell you having tried the civil case, he was 100% guilty of almost decapitating his own wife and then stabbing poor Ron Goldman more
than 17 times in the back because he thought Goldman was having an affair with his wife. The evidence against him was overwhelming. This case was
called the trial of the century and people were upset about it because it was a case that caused racial divisions in America like none had been seen
before. White people all thought he was guilty and African-Americans thought he was framed by a corrupt white police force.
So I'd like to see a definitive piece of evidence to prove what I believe to be true, he's guilty.
QUEST: Have a good weekend.
CALLAN: My pleasure.
QUEST: Thank you very much indeed. Now, Barack Obama said never mind O.J. Simpson, never mind the crazy race for the White House, it's time to start
giving credit to the U.S. economy.
The President says the country's on the right track despite what Presidential candidates might be saying.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: So you have the February's job report which shows job creation ticking along very nicely. Now besides this aberration in January which is
largely thought to be maybe because of weather. And you had the September aberration. You have all these months of strong job creation, over 200,000.
And 242 is a big improvement over January and there were revisions up by net 30,000. The President wants the American people to ignore the
naysayers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The numbers, the facts, don't lie. And I think it's useful given that there seems to be an alternative
reality out there from the -- some of the political folks that America's down in the dumps. It's not. America's pretty darn great right now. I don't
expect that these facts and this evidence will convince some of the politicians out there to change their doomsday rhetoric, talking about how
terrible America is. But the American people should be proud of what they have achieved.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: The U.S. Labor Secretary says the report shows the economy is very resilient. He was talking to Maggie Lake and Thomas Perez says labor force
participation is moving in the right direction.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOMAS PEREZ, U.S. LABOR SECRETARY: More people have confidence to get in the workplace, to look for a job, and in fact more people are getting jobs.
And so we've seen growth in a number of areas including education and health and construction, business and professional services. These are
well-paying jobs. And you see other indicators of consumer confidence. You look at auto sales. They continue to be very solid. Home sales are solid.
You look at the fact that we saw growth in retail and hospitality. People don't go to restaurants if they don't have confidence they've got a little
extra money that they can spend.
So we've got unfinished business. We've got to continue to work on wage growth. We've got to tighten labor markets even further. I think our
unemployment rate can go down even more. I have no doubt about that. But I have equally no doubt about the fact this is a remarkably resilient
economy. Businesses are bullish, workers are making progress. And even in this -- the global head winds of the strong dollar and you've got other
economies around the world that aren't doing so well, this economy here in the United States continues to move in the right direction.
MAGGIE LAKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm glad you brought up the issue of wages. If there is something that people worry about, it's the fact that - and
they're actually frankly puzzled by, the fact we're seeing month on month now job growth and yet wages do seem to be lagging or nonexistent, those
wage increase, why is that?
[16:10:02]
PEREZ: Well last month actually was the second highest month of wage growth since we've been tracking the series. So last month was incredibly good.
We weren't able to sustain that this month and your basic point is a very fair point. Which is that the unfinished business of this recovery is we
need to make sure that the wind that's at our back results in shared prosperity for everyone. Too many people have been working 40, 50 hours a
week. They haven't gotten a meaningful raise in years. That's why we've been working so hard to raise the minimum wage. That's why we're working on
a regulation that ensures that people who work overtime actually get paid for overtime. That's why we invest in skills because one of best ways to
lift your wages is to lift your skills.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Tom Perez, the Labor Secretary. Despite the optimism from the White House, not everyone is cheering the latest job reports. And these are the
sort of issues that are underlying what we're talking about.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Wage growth. Well, wage growth slipped. It disappointed in February. It was 2.2%. It's still growing but not growing as fast. It's below the
fence target of what they'd like to see for wage growth of 3.5%.
The stronger sector unfortunately are the lowest paying jobs. So you had restaurants, retail, social workers. And then you have long-term
unemployment still high with little movement in the number since last November. And that persistent long-term unemployment. But that is
counterbalanced by the fact that the participation rate actually increased as well. So more people -- it's really a very complex difficult set of
numbers.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Anthony Chan is with me, good to see you, sir.
ANTHONY CHAN, CHIEF ECONOMIST: Pleasure.
QUEST: What do you make of these number, I mean, is the glass half full, is it half empty? What is it?
CHAN: I think the glass is clearly half full. You have some really good stuff here. People were worried that the low unemployment rates because
people talking about dropping out of the labor force. We've had an increase of 1.5 million people rejoin the labor force. Now the wages is a little
disappointing, but last month it was up five tenths of one percent now we're down one tenth of one percent. So it fluctuates from month to month.
It's still rising.
QUEST: Why do you think there is no wage pressure in or wage - or pricing pressure for wages in the economy? Bearing in mind we are virtually at that
point of the nonaccelerating rate of inflation?
CHAN: I think it's very simple. All this quantitative easing resulted in a lot of investment in infrastructure, in productivity growth engines and all
of a sudden now you have a lot of excess capacity. Despite the fact that labor markets are tight, we don't see a lot of purchasing power, a lot of
pricing power on the part of workers. And plus we have global competition. When you look around the world, there's a lot of excess capacity. So if you
don't produce it here, you can produce it somewhere else around the world. That's another reason why our workers don't have a lot of purchasing --
pricing power.
QUEST: But at 4.8% or 4.9% unemployment rate, we should be -- you're at that level. That's the mid-target of the Fed for what they now say they
would be worried about for starting of inflation and there's no inflation or at least minimal inflation and there's no pricing power for workers. So
to the extent that it's -- the workers are getting the bad side of this?
CHAN: Well, if you look at the core consumer price index, we're rising in excess of 2%, 2.2% if you take out food and energy. But one of the things
that Janet Yellen has correctly said is, there's still some slack in the labor force. If you look at the (inaudible) unemployment rate that came out
today, it's still at 9.7%. Now granted that number has come down from 17.1%, but you still see more than 20% of all those people that are
unemployed are long term unemployed. And as you start to see the labor market tighten, some of those people are coming back. That's precisely why
the labor force participation rate is coming back up.
QUEST: I'm going to take you deep into choppy waters here. The idea that -- in the political race for November, the two sides -- one side is basically
saying the economy is a basket case, the other side says it's not, which is it?
CHAN: It is clearly not in a basket case. I think if you look at the Atlanta Fed, that's not a political organization, they try to estimate what
GDP is likely to be. And that number was revised higher after you saw this number. Consumer spending in the first quarter will probably grow something
closer to 3%. We know a lot of people got jobs. Wages are not increasing all that much. But with more people working they're going to spend more.
So consumer spending will probably be 3% or maybe even a little bit more and that means the economy is growing.
How fast will the economy grow this year? Something around 2%. The economy had a near death experience a few weeks ago when people thought we were
going to have a recession. That near death experience is starting to slip away. And that's why I think the Federal Reserve will be back in play
before the end of the year.
QUEST: Rates go up before the end of the year?
CHAN: No doubt in my mind.
QUEST: Whoa oh oh, that's worth a bell. [ bell ringing ].
CHAN: Thank you.
[16:15:10]
QUEST: Have a lovely weekend, thank you.
There's been no sign of wedding day butterflies from Rupert Murdoch on his big day, certainly not on social media.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: The marriage of Mr. Murdoch to Ms. Jerry Hall, we'll talk about that next. It's "Quest Means Business."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Oh, I do like a good wedding. St Brides Church in Fleet Street, which of course is the spiritual home of the media. What an appropriate
place for such a media mogul as Rupert Murdoch to get married, when he married jerry hall and they will celebrate their wedding there on Saturday.
Now, the St. Brides ceremony is the religious side of it. The civil ceremony took place today, was a much more low key affair. I'm sorry, sorry
Ms. Hall, I'm blocking you out. It was a registry office affair. Now the Hall of course -- Miss Hall is a top modal and has been for decades is also
the former long-term companion of the rolling stone Sir Mick Jagger.
She met Murdoch, Mr. Murdoch, last summer after exchanging vows, the media billionaire took to twitter about a honeymoon hiatus. He says "no more
tweets - no more tweets for ten days or ever. Feel like the luckiest and happiest man alive."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: In fact, when they announced their wedding, there was many people who were absolutely astonished at -- they'd obviously known each other for
some time, but that Rupert Murdoch, who only divorced from Wendy Deng not that long ago, and Jerry Hall should be together. This is the fourth time
Rupert Murdoch has tied the knot.
CNN's Paul La Monica is the author of "Inside Rupert's Brain." Paul what do you make of this?
PAUL LA MONICA, CNN MONEY CORRESPONDENT: It is pretty astonishing, considering, that as you pointed out, they only met a few months ago, the
summer of 2015. They only went public with their romance in October. They got engaged just a few weeks ago and now we have the wedding. Maybe the
fourth time is the charm for Rupert. And I'd love to know if Mick Jagger and their four children are going to be there as well.
QUEST: At the -
LA MONICA: On Saturday, yes.
QUEST: Saturday at St. Brides. Rupert Murdoch, I was before as I was talking to you, I was reading some of the comments that his second wife
Anna Murdoch, who he was with for more than 30 years, said - she said he's a very hard man, he's very determined. When he decided he was going to
divorce her, there was no ifs, buts. His mind would not be moved.
LA MONICA: You don't get the sense that his personal life, that he conducts that in that different of a way than his professional life. He is extremely
determined.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LA MONICA: The word maverick is often described what he's done in the media business. When he wants something he gets it. Think of Dow Jones, the
bankrupt -- the family controlling "The Wall Street Journal." repeatedly said no and he would not take that no for an answer. And as we know now,
Rupert Murdoch owns "The Wall Street Journal" through News Corp.
QUEST: Right. And then you have the Wendy Deng, with whom he had another child -
LA MONICA: -- Yes, two children, two daughters.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Two daughters but those two daughters do not enjoy the - they've got certain nonvoting or preferential shares in the companies but they're not
in line of the succession of the companies.
[6:20:05]
LA MONICA: No, not at all. It will be interesting to see whether or not that changes over the years. Obviously, right now, Lochlan and James
Murdoch, James the new CEO, and Lochlan the chairman, they're both still extremely young men. They are barring some sort of calamity not going
anywhere in News Corp. any time soon. So News Corp and Fox are going to be controlled by the Murdoch family for decades to come. This current
iteration at least.
QUEST: I can't believe that we're sitting here, the man's got married and we're sitting here discussing the machinations of his board room. But let's
--
LA MONICA: Well, because it's part of the family, you know --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: It is, isn't it? That's exactly the point. It's a Murdoch enterprise in all its spheres.
How are the two sides of the divided -- not family, divided Murdoch empire? The Fox which is all the television, and the fast stuff, the News Corp,
which is the news and all of that, how are they both doing?
LA MONICA: Yes, Fox is doing better than News Corp. Fox is -- had some success on the movie side. The T.V side, it's a little bit of a mixed bag.
They still are very dominant on the cable side.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LA MONICA: The network side, the Fox broadcasting network, they've had some stumbles there. They need to get a couple of more hits. But why talk about
business like you said when we've got all this? Jerry hall, a famous supermodel. She's not as young as Wendy Dang either so for anyone
criticizing Murdoch --
QUEST: Careful, careful.
LA MONICA: I'm saying people have criticized Murdoch --
QUEST: Two middle aged - well one middle aged man and one younger man sitting on the -
LA MONICA: I'm also middle aged.
QUEST: -- Talking about age of women, we could both be in deep trouble.
LA MONICA: Just saying that the gap is not as large as his previous wife.
QUEST: You're a brave, brave --
LA MONICA: These are numbers, they're facts, I'm not making any editorial judgments.
QUEST: All right, our guru - our guru is Paul La Monica, and Paul is at the helm of our daily digest on the day's top business stories. It's time for
you to sign up to the Quest Means Business newsletter. You go to cnnmoney.com. I've written about it - no, I haven't written about the
wedding, I've written about jobs - were you tempted to put Murdoch in today?
LA MONICA: I was tempted to but I'm hoping that Brian Stelter probably puts it in his reliable sources.
QUEST: Excellent, there's so many - so much good coverage.
New developments in an ongoing scandal in Brazil.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: The police are questioning a former President, the pressure is on the current head of state which intensifies. The economy, we already know,
is in a shocking state and we will be in Rio di Janeiro after the break. [ bell rings ]
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: A bit more than argy bargy, as anti-government sentiment flared up in Brazil after the police raided the home of the former President Lula de
Silva, and then questioned him. The former President was released after three hours. He met with his supporters, the authorities say it was all
part of an investigation into allegations of corruption of the state-owned oil company Petrobras. That has been going for some years.
The prosecutors allege that Lula benefited from a bribery scheme involving Petrobras. He strenuously denies the allegations.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Now, the anti-corruption operation has been called by the police and the prosecutors "Operation Car Wash" and Brazil has a few stains to wipe
off. The latest actions by the authorities have had a cleansing effect across the entire Brazilian market.
[16:25:13]
QUEST: For example, the currency, the real, has surged by some 2% as a result of this cleansing operation. The stock market, which had been in
such dreadful trouble, was up 5% on the news. It's the largest one-day rally since 2009. And one major reason for all of this, is because never
mind President Lula, it all puts Dilma Rousseff, the current President's future in the spotlight.
They say her impeachment would be good for the economy and that impeachment may become ever more likely.
CNN's Shasta Darlington is in Rio this evening. Shasta, how surprised was everybody when Lula was searched and questioned?
SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Richard, a really dramatic development. They've been sort of -- prosecutors and police have been sort
of circling around, hovering around, but this morning, it was a real whammy. First we heard that police were executing 33 search warrants. That
one of them was former President Lula's house. Then we'd heard that he'd been called in for questioning and things did get pretty chaotic.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DARLINGTON: There were clashes outside of his home where the police were carrying out this search warrant. They clashed with some of his supporters
there. Again, while there had been some hints that this was coming. I think when you see a former President, probably the most popular President in
Brazil's recent history going in for questioning, this really hammers home that this investigation is serious, that people are taking this very
seriously.
At this point of course, Lula has not been accused or charged with anything. He wasn't even arrested. He denies the allegations and he says
that he actually didn't appreciate the treatment today. He felt like he was being treated like a prisoner.
But Richard, I want to - I want to bring in a guest I have here, Professor Carlos Pereira from the Getulio Vargas Foundation. He's joining us this
evening. I wanted to get some reaction from you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DARLINGTON: Some of the members of the workers party have been urging supporters to organize acts of solidarity. Should we be more worried about
more clashes in the street, rising tensions?
CARLOS PEREIRA, PROFESSOR, GETULIO VARGAS FOUNDATION: I don't think so. I think that it's a party of (inaudible) Brazil showing that democratic
institutions are working well and that nobody's above the law. So what we have today here in Brazil is a demonstration of rule of law.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PEREIRA: And of course Lula's supporters will try to, you know, provide him some support, political support. But I don't believe we should be worried
about crashing. Brazil is mature, and capable of dealing with those kinds of conflicts I believe.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DARLINGTON: In other words, we probably are looking at another Venezuela. But I guess another question that Richard brought up, well this is a stain
on the legacy of former President Lula, perhaps it's even bigger when we talk about his handpicked successor Dilma Rousseff. What's going to happen
to the government?
PEREIRA: Yes, I think that the government is trouble, in real trouble, Not only Lula himself but the government, because they he is her father, right.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PEREIRA: And I believe that the impeachment, you know, got a new bump and I do believe the probability of impeachment to take over is pretty high now.
And even after this supreme court to try to and review the rules of the impeachment decided by the chamber, I do believe now with this new
information and, and related to the marketing guy and also from the former senator and those investigations for the former President Lula, you know,
and people are really, you know, aching, trying to search for alternatives, and the alternative might be the impeachment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PEREIRA: There is a protest set up for March 13, which I do believe is going to be pretty big and another demonstration that we can handle, you
know, conflict in a democratic fashion.
DARLINGTON: Great, one last quick question for you, markets are celebrating today. Do you think that's a little premature?
PEREIRA: Not really actually. This is a good sign. I think market is saying that when rule of law and confidence and Brazil can provide credible signal
on that direction, the market would react positively. So it means that if the country moves in that direction, the economy tends to, you know get
much stable and Brazil will tend to come back to the right track.
DARLINGTON: Well, thank you so much for joining us. I'm going to take this back to Richard now.
[16:30:00] DARLINGTON: Richard, again, this is just the beginning. As we said at this point, former President Lula has not been charged and he
hasn't been arrested, but things are getting uncomfortable and there's a lot of political tension here.
QUEST: It all means that you've got your work cut out for you for the weeks ahead --as the months ahead -- as the ramifications. Shasta
Darlington, have a good weekend. Shasta's in Rio tonight.
The insults that were flying at the latest republican debate. Donald Trump comes under fire from rivals Rubio and Cruz. It's Mitt Romney who has the
most to say about the billionaire. We spoke to him in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:31:46] RICHARD QUEST, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Richard Quest. There's more QUEST MEANS BUSINESS in just a moment.
When Mitt Romney tells CNN he couldn't stay quiet any longer when it comes to Donald Trump. And WPP's Sir Martin Sorrell tells us when it comes to
the economy, we shouldn't be too optimistic.
Before that, this is CNN and here the news always comes first.
Los Angeles police are examining a knife that was reportedly found at the former estate of O.J. Simpson, who was famously acquitted in the brutal
stabbing deaths of his ex-wife and her friend. It's not known whether the object found relates to the 1990s crime. The murder weapon itself has
never been located.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDREW NEIMAN, CAPTAIN, LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT: Within the last month, LAPD became aware of an item that was allegedly recovered by a
citizen at the Rockingham property, possibly during the demolition of the site. We need to vet that. We still don't know if that's an accurate
account of how this item came into our possession. The actual item is described as a knife. I'm not going to go into the description of the
knife because that could be germane to determining whether or not this actual piece of evidence is, in fact, evidence or it's just a facsimile or
made-up story. So we need to look into that. Our robbery homicide is going to look into that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Police in Brazil have questioned the former president Lula da Silva in connection with the corruption allegations. They said it is part of an
ongoing investigation into the scandal at the national oil company, Petrogas. Lula denies the allegations and has slammed authorities for the
way he was taken in for questioning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LUIZ INACIO LULA DA SILVA, FORMER BRAZILIAN PRESIDENT: (through translator) All they had to do was tell me they were coming, but sadly they
decided to act with presumptuousness, arrogance in a show, a spectacle of power techniques. While the lawyers new nothing, some media outlets
already knew.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Human rights groups have criticized the Turkish government after it installed new management at the country's largest newspapers.
[16:35:00] Turkish courts ruled that the opposition paper Zaman will now be run by a board of trustees appointed by the court. Amnesty International
says Turkey is steam rolling over the freedom of the press.
In a few moments for now Ben Carson is due to speak at a conservative conference in U.S State of Maryland. The retired neurosurgeon has said he
will discuss the future of his political campaign after saying he sees no path forward in his bid to become the next U.S. president. When he starts
speaking, we'll bring you those comments live.
The last Republican presidential nominee was Mitt Romney. And so far he is the most senior Republican to have come out and launch a blistering attack
on Donald Trump. CNN's chief political analyst, Gloria Borger, sat down with former Governor of Massachusetts, and asked him why he was speaking
out now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MITT ROMNEY, FORMER U.S. REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I wanted to remain as a neutral umpire, if you will, calling balls and strikes and some
fouls, and I've done that along the way. But over the last several weeks, some of the things Donald Trump has said and done, both on policy, as well
as temperamental things have suggested to me I just couldn't wait any longer.
GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Do you think it's too late though?
ROMNEY: You know, I don't know what impact these things have politically. But I do know that when my grandkids say, "What did you do to stop Donald
Trump?" I wanted to be able to say something. I wasn't going to just sit on the sidelines until the very end. I found his positions to be totally
at odds with those of my party. And I also believe his temperament, as well as some other personal qualities he's excite exhibited, suggest this
person shouldn't be our nominee.
BORGER: So you could potentially drive his supporters into his arms even more by doing this. Because you're the symbol of the Republican
establishment.
ROMNEY: Well, you know, I spend my life in business. I didn't get involved in politics until quite late in life. I think everybody that
someone is opposed to become establishment. The term anti-establishment is a very popular term. So I don't call myself establishment. I don't think
others do either that want to have the support of fellow Republicans.
They may say they're mainstream and they're conservative, but Donald Trump is not Republican in any sense of the word. He's not for the balanced
budget. His plans do not call for the kind of opportunity that I think would lift people out of poverty. You've heard the kind of dialogue he's
engaged in, which is unusual for any presidential contest I've ever seen. And for that reason -- I'm a Republican, I'm proud of being a Republican
and a conservative.
BORGER: At the debate, the other candidates said that they would support Trump if he became the nominee. Is there any circumstance under which you
would?
ROMNEY: Well, I can't imagine us supporting Donald Trump for president or Hillary Clinton for president, either one. I'll hopefully be able to find
a conservative on the ballot, who I can vote for. But Donald Trump just doesn't represent the kind of qualities I think should be in a president of
the United States.
BORGER: You raised Hillary Clinton and I know you disagree with her, and you said you wouldn't support her. Do you think she has a better
temperament though than Donald Trump to be president?
ROMNEY: You know, I'm not going to praise Hillary Clinton in any way. I'm going to note she has her own strengths and weaknesses. One of her biggest
weaknesses of course she was Secretary of State at a time when the world had some extraordinary challenges and America's interests in every corner
of the world were not improved. As a matter of fact, they got worse, in part because of her lack of leadership.
BORGER: But I'm talking temperamentally. Because you basically called Donald Trump unstable.
ROMNEY: We want to look at Hillary Clinton's temperament. I think you have to look at how she has dealt with people around her. How she is
dealing with the campaign at this stage. I'm going to let other people make that judgment. But my focus is on making it very clear who I think
should not be president and I don't think either one should be president.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: Now that is what you call a real condemnation. Mitt Romney saying neither one should be president. Well, Donald Trump is pulling out of a
major conservative conference at the last minute. He was scheduled to appear on Saturday morning. And the decision comes a day after he was
peppered with attacks from his Republican rivals, including of course during the Republican debate. The tone, well you know, at least on QUEST
MEANS BUSINESS we like to raise the tone. Well on this debate, it was less than decorous.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARCO RUBIO, U.S. REPUBLICIAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If anyone deserves to be attacked that way, it's been Donald Trump.
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. REPUBLICIAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This little guy has lied so much about my record.
MARCO RUBIO, U.S. REPUBLICIAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Here we go.
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. REPUBLICIAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He has lied so much.
[16:40:00] JOHN KASICH, U.S. REPUBLICIAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I have never tried to go and get into these scrums we see on the stage. And
people say everywhere I go, you seem to be the adult on the stage.
TED CRUZ, U.S. REPUBLICIAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Breathe, breathe, Breathe.
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. REPUBLICIAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Lying dead.
TED CRUZ, U.S. REPUBLICIAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You can do it. You can breathe. I know it's hard. I know it's hard, but just --
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. REPUBLICIAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When their done with the yoga can I answer a question.
TED CRUZ, U.S. REPUBLICIAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You cannot.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: I spoke to CNN senior political analyst David Gergen who really is the best in the business. He's the former adviser to Presidents Nixon,
Ford, Reagan and Clinton. And I asked him, if we learned anything new from that flacker.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: No, Richard, we learned more about the size of Donald Trump's hands than we learned about his policies.
It was a very repetitive debate as well as raucous.
QUEST: And to that extent, who came out better, best or worst?
GERGEN: I don't think there's any question that the person that looked most presidential was governor Kasich of Ohio. He is in a pivotal race on
March 15th, not very far away. If he can beat Trump in Ohio, he could emerge as the alternative. And he also might emerge as a potential running
mate for Donald Trump, should Trump go on to win the nomination. But other than that, I thought the other three candidates on the stage all dug
themselves into deeper holes. They certainly didn't win any new votes.
Coming off the Mitt Romney condemnation of Trump and the crisis that is now come to the Republican Party, you know, frankly last night's debate
actually hurt Republicans in there -- as they look forward to November, if they face Hillary Clinton. This is a party that needs to pull itself
together, find a candidate who's more convincing than Trump has become so far. He's likely to get the nomination. But I think he's going to have to
morph, he'll have to change if he wants to beat Hillary Clinton in the fall if he does.
QUEST: There's one point now of course, bearing in mind the crisis that you've just talked about, if Trump is the nominee, all the Democrats have
to do is replay acres of Mitt Romney's speech. They just have to replay parts of Rubio and Cruz calling him liars.
GERGEN: It's difficult to remember -- and I don't think there has been a race in our lifetimes when the nominee of a party has had so much garbage
heaped on him by members of his own party. And I do think it's going to make it more difficult for Trump. What's really happening, Richard, what's
so very dangerous for Trump, is if the narrative sets in that he's not only boorish and crude but he doesn't understand his own policies and he might
be fraudulent. That is a very dangerous narrative.
One of the biggest argument's Republicans have had against Hillary Clinton is that people don't trust her. Trust is very important to the presidency,
as you know. Well, if it turns out that Trump is as untrustworthy to the public in the public's mind as she is, that removes one of the potential
advantages that Republicans would have going into the fall. So these arguments now are not inconsequential. They will have repercussions right
through the year.
QUEST: And finally, David, you have friends, you have contacts, all around the world, sir. What are they emailing you?
GERGEN: There are an awful lot of folks around the world who are apoplectic. And I can tell you they are telling American diplomats around
the world that they're very, very nervous. They worry it's going to creep into the markets. They worry about a retreat of American leadership. They
worry about an erratic presidency. At the very time Europe may be unraveling. They worry that America will be in disarray as well. And I
think that has consequences in the financial markets. But it's going to have consequences elsewhere. So they're very worried.
I keep trying to tell them, look, there's reason to be very deeply concerned. But I don't think the republic is going to crumble over this.
I think that this is a resilient country. I think you'll see a lot of Americans rise to the occasion. So, you know, don't go into panic mode
over this. Let us get through it. We're going through a bad patch in our politics and many other aspects of American life right now, but we'll come
out of it. The country's resilient. I think we'll bounce back.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: David Gergen, talking to me earlier. WPP's chief executive says the bullish attitude of his clients is misplaced, Sir Martin Sorrell is
next.
(COMMERICIAL BREAK)
QUEST: Sir Martin Sorrell has a message for the advertising industry -- it's not like Don Draper and "Madmen." He says the confidence of the ad
industry is misplaced. Extraordinary comments come as WPP announced revenue growth of 6.1 percent towards $17 billion. CNN's money Europe
editor Nina dos Santos asked him why business concerns in the real world are different from the Hollywood version.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARTIN SORREL, CEO, WPP: Because you have disrupters like ABB and Uber, you have zero based budgeters who are just focused on cost building their
businesses, and you have the activist investors who the perception about them is they are focused on the short term. Clients are just too focused
on the short term and on cost. And what I worry about is building brands for the long term. We've been at this for 30 years, a lot our constituent
companies like J Walter Thompson have been at it 150 years. We believe that you build businesses by building the top line, not by just
relentlessly cutting costs.
Cutting costs is very important but you have to balance that by growing the top line. It's finding the growth segments in our business geographically
and functionally, just like any one of our clients. There is too much focus on the short term that's the biggest problem. As far as the
geopolitical risks are concerned obviously the Brexit risk here in the U.K. is looming its ugly head. It's black hole that we are jumping into if we
decide to pull out on June 23. I mean goodness knows what it means for the U.K. after that, I mean it would probably mean that the disintegration of
the U.K. too.
I mean Scotland would probably ask -- because the Scottish are in favor of staying in -- would probably ask for another referendum or demand another
referendum. Does that mean Scotland will secede from the Union? It will no longer be United Kingdom. What will the position of Northern Island?
What will be the position of Wales? So I think it does raise some fundamental issues and whilst I'm not saying that we would move our
headquarters from London if we pulled out, and I am not saying that we would move lots of jobs, but I have to say that Germany, France, Italy and
Spain are four markets that are in our top ten markets. Germany is our fourth largest market, the other three are between -- I mean France is
number seven, and Italy and Spain are number eight or nine.
These are very important markets for us and we will have to invest more resources in the E.U. to get to seek greater influence, those are important
markets where we can't afford to lose market share.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: Sir Martin Sorrel with a sobering warning on Brexit. Today's oil price rise is welcome news for economies such as Saudi Arabia, that country
is looking to the future and is trying to add more economic strings to its bow. You'll hear that after you have a moment to think, you need to "MAKE,
CREATE, INNOVATE."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: U.S. markets closed higher. Look at the big board it was boosted by strong job growth, the higher oil prices, the DOW, the NASDAQ and the
S&P 500. We had a bit of a tickle in the morning, a bit of a red tickle in the morning, but by the afternoon, all was sunny and smiles. I just
realized in the course of -- how could I have missed it, we are over 17,000 on the DOW Jones, worth a second bell. It must have been because it was a
Medal of Honor winner that was ringing the closing bell.
The oil prices are up. It boosted the solid jobs report. Brent is up $38 -- up to $38.71, it's a 4 percent increase. Even with today's rise, oil
producing nations are looking to tomorrow. CNN's Nic Robertson explores how Saudi Arabia is trying to end its oil dependency.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERSTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Beneath Riyadh, we are being shown a revolution taking shape.
(VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERSTON: So each one is five tons?
ALEKRISH: Each Is five tons. And there's eight.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTSON: (voice-over) The Saudi Arabia capital's first ever public transport network under construction.
(on camera) Thirty-five kilometers of tunneling, more than half of it complete already. This machine drills through the dirt at about 25 meters
a day. Their best month so far, 990 meters.
(voice-over) The total vision, 176 kilometer rail network, 85 stations, driverless trains, integrated 4,000 kilometer bus network. Coming online
late next year.
ALWALID ALEKRISH, CONSTRUCTOR DIRECTOR, RIYADH METRO: Actually, the scale of this project is international scale. It's one of the largest projects
in the world now at about $24 billion.
ROBERTSON: (voice-over) A massive investment, while the country's biggest earner, oil, is tanking. And gas and other subsidies are being cut. The
metro represents a small part of an emerging new social contract between Saudis and their rulers. An end to handouts. And into an era of
accountability and delivering on people's needs. And not just that fundamental shift but the train could be a ticket to societal change too.
ALEKRISH: We'll make it easier for schoolchildren, for ladies, for all aspects, all sectors of the society to basically move around the city.
ROBERTSON: (voice-over) Right now, women are not allowed to drive. The new transport network will give them mobility to work, to have a voice.
But such is the state of the economy, another metro project in Saudi's second city Jetta has been postponed. Across the capital, however, another
massive investment. KAFD, the King Abdullah Financial District, $10 billion. Glitzy new office blocks, retail and residential, a mini city,
integral to the government's new economic vision. Cut government sector spending. Diversify from oil.
WALEED ALEISA, CEO KING ABDULLAH FINANCIAL DISTRICT: So we want to diversify. That's the idea is actually to diversify by creating the
financial sector that would support privatization. That would support going from just a single, if you will, line of economy to a multiple,
multifaceted, and you need that support.
ROBERTSON: (on camera) By the end of this year, the expectation is 85,000 square meters of office space will be up and running and about 5,000 people
will be in these buildings at work.
(voice-over) But full occupancy, to deliver on privatization, requires attracting big international companies, and that means competing with
cities like Dubai, where ease of business and more liberal lifestyles are standard. Changes Saudi Arabia has yet to make.
ALEISA: Basically if you see this designated KAFD as more of a zone in its own and create that environment for the more Western, more attractive to
Western. It's not 100 percent, first of all attracted to Western. Then it's easily done.
ROBERT: (voice-over) At the end of the new metro line, work is 24/7. And potential passengers mull the future of travel in the kingdom.
MALE: Busy for my mom or my sister or my wife, yes.
ROBERTSON: (voice-over) It's all a grand vision. But getting a real return on the billions of dollars invested that will require allowing
social remodeling too. Nic Robertson, CNN, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[16:55:00] QUEST: A Profitable Moment to end the program after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: Tonight's Profitable Moment. If you listened to the politicians on both sides, you'd think that the United States economy was a complete and
utter basket case. Well, that's the political process, and we get used to that sort of talk and rhetoric.
[17:00:00] But the jobs number we got today gives very different view of what's happening in America. 242,000 new jobs and the unemployment rate up
4.9 percent. That is the sort of glass half full. No doubt to be sure, wage growth was down and there were various underlying trends which might
give cause or pause for concern.
But we must keep that in perspective. The fundamental of the job growth was resilient. And you also factor in what we've seen in the market. Now,
after that sharp fall at the beginning of the year, it's clawed back 9 percent of its year to date losses. We're over 17,000 on the DOW. I'm
saying all of this just so that you get a balanced picture on what's happening in the U.S. economy at the moment. The truth is, as we've said
on this program before, it's the cleanest white shirt in a dirty laundry.
That's QUEST MEANS BUSINESS for tonight. I'm Richard Quest in New York. Whatever you're up to in the hours ahead, I hope it's profitable. We'll do
it again on Monday.
END
